Empty buildings in downtown Gadsden being revived

Monday

Dec 10, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 10, 2012 at 6:02 PM

Several structures in the 400 block of Broad Street that have been vacant and deteriorating for years soon will house new businesses, and some will have apartments, according to the new owners and the firm doing the renovation work.

BY ANDY POWELLTimes Staff Writer

Several structures in the 400 block of Broad Street that have been vacant and deteriorating for years soon will house new businesses, and some will have apartments, according to the new owners and the firm doing the renovation work.“I am excited,” said Kay Moore, Downtown Gadsden Inc. director. “I think it’s a huge improvement. After so many years of waiting, it makes you feel good to see something positive happening. So instead of a building coming down, we’re going to have more good things going up,” Moore said. “This is a step in the right direction.”Jamey Freeman of Freeman and Sons Home Builders bought the three buildings Aug. 3 from Sally Moss. He has sold two of them and has an agreement to sell the third. The company has started renovation work on one of the buildings.“I bought them to work on,” Freeman said.437 Broad, on the corner of Fifth and Broad, had been declared a nuisance by the Gadsden City Council. The city had started nuisance abatement proceedings on the two other buildings, Chief Building Inspector Brian Harbison said.The new owner is abating the nuisance, Harbison said.Work has begun on 431 Broad, and the new owners, Chris Russell and Marcus Thomson, said a tenant, TaxBreak, will move in next year.Russell and Thomson own three of the four addresses: 433 Broad and 435 Broad, which are one building, and 431 Broad.Russell said originally they planned on having retail space on the first floor and apartments on the second floor of 431 Broad, but when TaxBreak, a corporate tax office, wanted the entire building, they had plans drawn for offices on the second floor as well.The business now is on Rainbow Drive in the former Hudak building.Russell said they hope to finish the project in March.He said they will begin work next on 433 Broad and 435 Broad. Plans include two 3,000-square-foot retail or office spaces downstairs and two 1,000-square-foot apartments upstairs.Russell said the plans could change, since he is talking to individuals who are interested in a restaurant/bar at one of the locations.Russell said he and Thomson have residential properties and have always wanted to have some commercial property.“I think we have a great downtown with some great historic buildings, and it’s a shame to see those buildings sit there and deteriorate the way they were,” he said.Russell said more businesses are moving downtown.“I think downtowns are coming back, especially in the South. We saw a future there and wanted to be part of it,” Russell said.Gil Isbell, who has agreed to purchase 437 Broad on the corner of Fifth and Broad, said work on his building will begin next year.He will close on the property soon. Plans are for 14 one- and two-bedroom apartments on the second and third floors, with the first floor for retail or commercial space. The building will have to have a new roof, Isbell said, and windows will have to be cut on the second and third floors to meet code requirements. He said the building originally had windows.Isbell’s wife is one of the owners of the Courtyard Café in the Hardin Center.“What I’m trying to do it make this a focal point in the district,” Isbell said. “It would be a great, fun place to live.”Isbell said he hopes to have the building ready by summer.“I’ve always loved old buildings,” he said of why he was drawn to the project. He said DGI has done a great job of bringing the downtown area back.Isbell plans to apply for downtown apartment incentives of $5,000 per apartment up to $50,000 per project.He said Mayor Sherman Guyton and other city officials have been supportive of his plans.“Everybody in the city is really for it,” Isbell said.

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